Threatened Oil Refineries Lead To Gas Price Hike

By Meteorologist Lauren Raymer&nbsp|&nbsp

Posted: Fri 4:13 PM, Sep 12, 2008&nbsp|&nbsp

Updated: Fri 5:23 PM, Sep 12, 2008

Texas is the leading crude oil-producing state in the nation and processes more the 4.6 million barrels of crude oil per day. The majority of refineries have evacuated in preparation of Hurricane Ike, causing gas prices to sky-rocket.

Professor Ken Troske, UK Economics Dept, says, "The increase in price reflects where this hurricane is going to land and how much damage it's going to do to the refineries in the area."

Oil that is pumped in all refineries must go through an extensive process before turning to gasoline and before making it to the pump.

"It's pumped out of the ground. It goes into the pipeline and is put into containers and is then shipped to refineries," Troske says, "and then it's sold at the local station."

The halt at refineries in the Gulf of Mexico has already led to a gas price jump of nearly a dollar in some Kentucky locations.

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